Decision makers

JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED - SUPPORT RAPE VICTIMS IN INDIA

India is now the 3rd country with the highest incidence of rape. The abuse, degradation and violation of women and minors must cease with swift justice being delivered to all victims of rape and sexual abuse.

17th April 2013 – A 4 year old girl is raped and dies from her injuries.

10th July 2013 – A 17 year old rape victim has her tongue slashed to prevent her giving a statement in court.

11th July 2013 – An 18 month old girl is raped by a 30-yr old man. The police tried to hush up the matter by saying she was attacked by stray dogs.

These are now every day occurrences in India. Rape is the fastest growing crime in India and has increased by 902% over 1971 to 2012. A rape is being reported approximately every 22 minutes. There were 38,144 rape cases pending investigation in 2012, charge-sheets were submitted in 21,565 (56.5%) cases. Rape is notoriously under-reported for a wide variety of reasons in India and the number is far higher than reported. The overall total of rape cases pending trial in the courts is 101,041, trials were completed in just 14,717 (14.6%) cases. There has been a systematic failure to safeguard basic human rights of women and minors. The conviction rate for rape was as low as 24.2% in 2012. This appallingly low conviction rate for rape is symptomatic of an inept criminal justice system.

This petition was delivered to:

Department of Law and JusticeKapil Sibal

Letter to

Department of Law and JusticeKapil Sibal

We, the Citizens of the World, demand the Union Government of India, take immediate and robust action to address the rape crisis prevalent across the Indian Republic. We demand with immediate effect: •The expedited processing of pending rape cases with timelines indicating the closure of these cases by a fixed and published date. •Swift justice for ALL victims irrespective of race, creed, colour, national origin, religion circumstance or environment, •New legislation to criminalise marital rape •Severe and immediate punishment and sentencing for those convicted of the rape and sexual abuse of women and minors. •Greater central funding and gender-sensitive training for police officers investigating rape and sexual abuse.We will not stand by while women and children of your nation are subjected to such brutality by their rapists and neglect by the government and its officials.

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